Thursday, July 31, 2008

Busy, busy, busy. That is now my new middle name! I cannot believe how fast the Summer is flying, too. Sheesh.

Ok, this is just a small part of what I've been doing lately. Our church is having a Backyard Bible School. It's just like a VBS, but held outside in a city park. Our church has two puppets they use with the kids to teach them Bible stories. Clunky and Rebirtha. I did not name them. Do NOT email me. Clunky is described as a boy in kindergarten for the 5th year in a row. He normally gets things wrong. Blessedly, he has Rebirtha to set him straight.

This year's theme is cars. And not the Pixar movie cars, either. Just cars. The pastor wanted me to sew up a couple of "car" shirts for these two. Now, Clunky only has a torso and Rebirtha has a whole body. He is a size 3 in a little boys shirt and she's a 24 mos in RTW. Below is what I came up with. The secretary at church loved them! She squealed when she saw them, too.

Next are my two new favorite machines. The first is Singer's 301. Mocha, short bed for you Singer techies out there. She sounds just like my featherweight, but is much faster. No wonder they call it "the featherweight on steroids"! Here is an "after" picture. After the "spa treatment". Her name is Ethel. Don't ask me. Months ago she told me her name and that was long before I saw her. A friend sold her to me and it took me about 4 months to get to the other side of the state to pick her up. In the meantime, Ethel told me her name. Go figure. I don't normally name my machines.

And for some equally strange reason, below is Steven. I know, he should be "Rocky", but he's Steven. I can't help it.

Got my Singer 500 Rocketeer off Craigslist for $40. He came with the same desk my 401 came with. So, now I have two desks and I'm not using either because I have a sewing room where they won't fit. He is in pristine condition. One minor flaw on the light cover. Other than that, he is beautiful! And both my 301 and 500 are a delight to sew with. Right now, they are center stage in my sewing room with my Bernina and Singer 185 stowed in another room. *gasp*

I've been sewing for the quilt shop and sewing for a gal who works at the quilt shop and trying to sew for myself here and there. But it isn't working out too well.

My family reunion was July 18 and DH's family reunion is this Saturday. I can't wait. His family is so nice and it's the second time we've gotten together. Last year was the first time my DH had met almost ALL of his cousins. Weird family, but hey! They're together now, and that's all that matters. I'll post pics after his reunion. Get both families with one post!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I thought I'd show you some shop samples I've made for my local quilt shop. I simply love the effect on this first quilt.

The fabric is this way on the bolt. There are four shaded areas divided by a line. You simply cut on the line (lengthwise cuts) and you have 4 different colors. I am going to make one for myself out of blues, greens and browns. Those will go with my living room walls.

This one below is a Halloween wallhanging.

It's not something I would sew for myself. But you'd be surprised at the number of ladies who come to the shop asking for Halloween fabric and then not knowing what to do with them. Well, here is a sample. The pattern is free. It's from clothworks.

Then there is this cute "ant" apron on a panel. It comes complete and it's a twill type fabric, so there was no need to put a backing on it. I simply serged the edges, pressed them over and stitched them down. The handles are all pressed in half and then stitched together and (using a tube turner) turned and sewn on. Oh and I insist on giving credit where credit is due. The curved patch pockets are courtesy of Debbie Cook's tutorial on "perfect curved patch pockets". Thanks Debbie! ;)

Lastly, is a Christmas wallhanging using Laurel Birch's cats fabric. The company is still creating more cat fabric using her designs. Ms. Birch passed away last year.

Anyway, just samples. But it's better than listening to my ranting of late. Remember to double click on the photos to see them up close.

I am in jury trial this week and am looking forward to having Friday off! I hope you all have a very safe 4th of July! Take care.